


When He Sleeps (I Can't Help But Admit How Much I Love Him)

by Goblinbrigade



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Chrom is a lovesick fool, Eventual Smut, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Male My Unit | Reflet | Robin, Mutual Pining, Not Acting On Feelings, Pining, Robin works too hard, So there is some angst I guess, but so is Robin, eventually, it's probably an au but im too lazy to figure out what kind, mentions of Morgan - Freeform, they're both fools
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-24 17:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22001899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goblinbrigade/pseuds/Goblinbrigade
Summary: Robin works too hard and Chrom knows it, but he's never been able to convince his tactician to put down his tome for more than a few hours at a time. When one night he finds the man asleep in his study, his heart softens even further.
Relationships: Chrom/My Unit | Reflet | Robin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 54





	When He Sleeps (I Can't Help But Admit How Much I Love Him)

The candle flickered in the darkness of the tiny little office, highlighting the books and tomes scattered over the desk. The window, open and allowing the cool air of the night to drift into the room, scattered some of the loose papers onto the floor, the heavy curtains barely moving against the pitiful onslaught of nature.

On the desk slept a figure, white hair in a mess against the open book he’d been using as a pillow and some drool pooling in a crease in the thick parchment of the page. Beside his head was a half-empty glass of some kind of alcohol, no doubt an attempt to keep warm and awake in the long night. An attempt that inevitably ended in failure, if the current sight was anything to go by. Quiet snores could be heard from the man, his arms bare from the shoulder down due to having shrugged his coat off earlier in the night to drape it over the back of his seat.

He seemed peaceful. Not a common sight in the castle.

Footsteps could be heard from behind the closed door of the study, slowing down before stopping completely. Then, a knock, something that went unheard by the man asleep. Another, but still he did not stir.

“Robin?” The door was pushed open with a resounding creak, one that brought a wince to the dark-haired man’s features as his eyes fell upon the slumbering form of the man in question. As if about to speak, the man opened his mouth before thinking better of it, and then snapped it shut again with a click. His expression softened as he made his way over to the man.

“Whatever shall I do with you?” Came a quiet murmur, a fond one, as a hand gently entangled itself in white hair. The man asleep let out a quiet little purr, almost nuzzling against the warmth before he seemed to settle back down again. Kicking the door closed, Chrom found his knuckles grazing across the slightly reddened cheek of his tactician, before he drew his hand back with an awkward gulp. No, now was not a time for such thoughts, however tempting it was to slip into fantasy. “Come on, time to get up now.”

Gently nudging Robin, Chrom found guilt building up within his stomach as the man let out a little groan of dissatisfaction and batted his hand away in his sleep. He only nuzzled deeper into his arms, not unlike a kitten, before returning back to slumber. The man bit at his bottom lip and glanced away, noticing the open window. He took the time to calm himself by closing it up and drawing the curtains back over it again, Robin would thank him in the morning. When he returned to the tactician’s side again, however, the man was in an even deeper sleep than before.

Not for the first time, Chrom noticed the dark bags under Robin’s eyes. They seemed a permanent fixture nowadays, even now that the war had ended. With a gentle sigh, he glanced towards the tiny bed shoved into the corner of the room for nights such as this, and hooked an arm around Robin’s body. It would have to do. “Come on,” Chrom murmured, straightening the tactician’s limp body up and all but dragging him to his feet. He only received a groan in response as the man cracked one bleary eye open, “You’ll regret it in the morning.”

“Mmf,” Came the very eloquent reply from Robin, who’s mouth appeared unable to work properly in his sleep-induced delirium. Some ink was smudged on his cheek, but it was even worse on the book he’d been writing in. Chorm elected not to mention it. Still, Robin wrapped his arm around the King for support, resting his chin on the man’s shoulder all-too familiarly. Chrom gulped once more and glanced at Robin from the corner of his eye. “I gotta…” He slurred, “Gotta work…”

“No, you must sleep,” Chrom returned with a click of his tongue, almost tripping over Robin’s clumsy feet. His heart skipped a beat as the white-haired man hugged him closer, but he tried his hardest to ignore it. “What would Morgan think if she found her father like this?”

“Morgan…” It took a moment for Robin to process the question, “Morgan’s a big girl… she’ll…” Waving his hand vaguely, he blinked rapidly and managed to find his footing somewhat, “Sooner or later she won’t need me.”

“She’ll always need her father,” Chrom replied, finally making it to the bed and sitting Robin down. Were the tactician of any coherent mind, he probably would have objected to the man kneeling on the floor to work at his boots, but as it was a stupid little grin was all that played across his face. Chrom looked up briefly and felt his cheeks heat, that gaze of Robin’s not wavering even despite his drooping eyelids. When he looked down again, he felt a gentle hand rubbing through his hair. The entire affair would have been funny were he not internally screaming. “Robin, just let me…” Pulling off one boot, Chrom moved onto the other.

Robin let out a quiet hum and flopped back down, closing his eyes. Once Chrom was finished, he rose to wrestle his tactician out of his day clothes, only giving up after realising he didn’t have a spare set of nightclothes in his study. With a sigh, he settled the other into his bed, tucking him in like a child.

“You’re hopeless,” Chrom said fondly, sitting down beside Robin who was nuzzling quite comfortable into the pillow. The white-haired man glanced at him, nibbling at his bottom lip as if in thought.

“’M sorry,” Came the slurred response after a long few moments, one hand tugging at Chrom’s sleeve as if to keep him there. “I didn’t finish my…”

“You’re doing more than enough, Robin,” Chrom murmured, gently taking Robin’s hand and giving it a squeeze. He was suddenly glad they both wore gloves, because even that felt electric and he wasn’t entirely sure how he’d deal with himself if they were touching skin to skin. Chrom gulped, a thought for another time. “You need to look after yourself more.”

“But then who would look after you?” Chrom’s heart skipped a beat and he bit at the inside of his cheek, “Who would make sure the army can function?” Robin quivered a little, as if the very thought of taking a single day off was preposterous to him. Regardless, it seemed he was at least waking up a little, his words not quite as clumsy as before, “If… if I make a mistake and someone important dies, then—”

“All the more reason to get a good night’s sleep. You can’t think properly if you’re so tired,” Chrom stood as if to finish the conversation. He would hear not another word from the man on the matter. “Sleep, I’ll make sure the servants don’t wake you in the morning.” For good measure, he added, “This is an order, by the way.”

“Mm fine,” Robin murmured before he buried his face back into the pillow. This would have to do, Chrom decided with a sigh, casting one last lingering glance at the man before bidding him a goodbye. Once at the door to the study, his expression softened as he sucked in his bottom lip. Just like that, Robin was asleep again, and a part of Chrom felt compelled to press a kiss to the top of the man’s head. He turned away before he could act on the compulsion, closing the door behind him as he made his way down the hall to his quarters.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually haven't played awakening in a while due to... *looks at my long list of unfinished games* ... stuff but I do eventually want to go back to it. So have this little fic that I came up with far too late at night when I was trying to write up a chapter for a completely different fic.


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